In a spin-off from the Connect program, updated versions of the directory and job posting systems have now been released in beta form for review by members only.

Among the benefits of the new platform are:

* It is possible to search the directory one parameter at a time, with results updated in real time.
* The information displayed in search results can be customized, so it is possible to show only what is most important to you.
* It is possible to search with greater precision. For example, you can search specifically for interpreters with a minimum number of years of experience, living within a certain distance of a given city, and whose calendars say they are available on a certain day.
* For convenience, a history of job postings and searches is maintained.
* Communication with candidates can also be tracked and logged.

The directory and job posting system being spun off here do not have all the features of the full Connect platform, which is available to corporate members. However, with your feedback, we believe that this new platform will represent a significant improvement over the current equivalents, and will eventually replace ProZ.com's current systems as the leading industry channel for translators and outsourcers to meet.

To try out the new features and provide requests or feedback, go to ProZ.com, and look for the new options under the "Directories" and "Jobs" tabs, or go directly to http://www.proz.com/new-directory (Consider bookmarking this link.)

Thank you, members, for making this new development possible through your investments in the site.

Please let us know if you have any questions, comments or concerns about these new features. As staff, we look forward to improving these new features based on your requests and feedback.

Best regards,
Jon Peck
ProZ.com Staff Developer

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The new ProZ Connect search provides less translators than the ordinary ProZ search one with same search criteria.

Much care has been taken to ensure that the existing and Connect directory return the same results given the same criteria. However, I did a comparison of German to Portuguese (Top 8) Tech/Engineering translators native in Portuguese with SDL TRADOS, and found 218 (classic) vs. 215 (connect). This slight discrepancy is abnormal; I will investigate it further on Monday.

Loading and saving takes too much time. So it is not wise to load and save again every time after entering a criteria. Saving and loading should be done only after finishing to enter the criteria.

You do not have to wait for the results to load before adding or changing criteria; the system will adjust the results in real time. As for overall speed, additional optimization is scheduled in the near future.

When I add a canditate to my vendors many fields like rates, KudoZ, years of experience, Cat Tools, WWA, etc are not shown any more

To contextualize this remark, this is a Corporate member only feature. I will investigate this issue further on Monday and make any necessary adjustments.

Once again, thank you for response and thoughts.

Best regards,
Jon Peck
ProZ.com Staff Developer

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101translationsIreland Local time: 08:02Member (2003) English to Italian + ...

If it ain't broke...

May 6, 2008

I keep trying to use the new Connect job posting form but I keep going back to the "normal" one.

The most confusing part is that once you've filled in the job posting and specified the vendor requirements, there is no obvious button with which you can say "OK now, I have specified them, let me go back to the job posting". You have to go to the Dashboard, click on "Edit" the job, then search for a little piece of text that says "Finalize details" - and it took me a while to figure it out!

The page in which the quotes are received is also less informative than with the normal one. I have to download each sample file and read it separately, rather than simply look it up on the email.

In short - the Connect job posting form is still inferior to the normal one.

And now, after I wasted my time trying to make a posting on the connect form, I'll go and do it again on the normal job posting form.

I SINCERELY hope that ProZ is not going to scrap the better and simpler form and force outsourcers to u se the new form - please don't become like Microsoft!

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I completely agree with 101translations: "I keep trying to use the new Connect job posting form but I keep going back to the 'normal' one".

There are various reassons for doing so, but the first and formost thing is that, the Connect job posting system is too slow to be of any use no matter how many new or improved features you keep on adding with it.

One feature which I wanted to be added in job positing system, whether, Normal or Connect one, is that the translators can be filtered, along with other criteria, by the criteria of their tentative rates.

Sometimes, we have very very easy projects, like name translation and transliteration etc., and we require any budding translators who have low rates to be notified for this job. But there is no such rate filter available in this new Job Posting System.

I have more feedback to be published here, however, until and unless the main issue, as per my point of view, of slow server is tackled there is no point discussing what new and improved features should come in the new Job posting system.

Best regards,

Language Aide Pvt. Ltd.

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My priority in the immediate future will be optimization, followed by improving the job posting flow and interface.

After you have specified the vendor requirements, you can click "Post a job to these results" button just above the list of vendors rather than going back to the dashboard. However, it's a little counter-intuitive at this time and the controls need to be better contextualized. I will be concentrating on this area shortly. In addition, I'll do some comparisons between the existing quote processing page and the new one and reconcile.

To reflect your feature request, you would like the sample file(s) to be emailed with the quote notifications?

We have no plans to close the current Job posting system at this time, and the two will operate in parallel for the foreseeable future.

Best regards,
Jon

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One feature which I wanted to be added in job positing system, whether, Normal or Connect one, is that the translators can be filtered, along with other criteria, by the criteria of their tentative rates.

Currently, a new rates system is under development. This kind of feature cannot be developed until sensitive and important issues such as vendor privacy and rights are addressed and the new rates system is finalized.

I have more feedback to be published here, however, until and unless the main issue, as per my point of view, of slow server is tackled there is no point discussing what new and improved features should come in the new Job posting system.

I understand your concern and will be spending time on speed optimization in the near future. Can you clarify a bit on the speed issue? Do you feel that the page load is slow, that the searches are slow, or that the overall process of getting to the final requirements is slower?

Best regards,
Jon

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I've spent some time this week greatly improving the speed of the new directory - especially page load. Also, I've added the option to show the Skype name (if available and visible) and made a number of under-the-hood changes to improve the overall quality of the service.

I will continue working on the other improvements that have been suggested in the upcoming week.

Thank you once again for your feedback; suggestions and ideas from the people who use these features drive development efforts. If you have any additional questions, comments or concerns about the Connect platform, please let me know.

Best regards,
Jon Peck
ProZ.com Staff Developer

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Although I like the new format, even if it is a tad slow, there seems to be a slight glitch. I noticed that when I did a search just to see where I came up, my name appeared when I searched under "any country" and when I specified the country, province and city, I also appeared, but when I searched under country and province only, my name was not on the list. Strange...

Best regards,
Lynda

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Although I like the new format, even if it is a tad slow, there seems to be a slight glitch. I noticed that when I did a search just to see where I came up, my name appeared when I searched under "any country" and when I specified the country, province and city, I also appeared, but when I searched under country and province only, my name was not on the list. Strange...

Best regards,
Lynda

Lynda,

I've investigated the issue as described, and while you are showing under Canada, it's not showing in Ontario. I will determine the cause and repair it.

Thanks for your feedback!

Best regards,
Jon

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I have tried using the new directory and have a question about how the results are ranked.

I tried searching for Eng-Rus translators that work in Marketing. In this field, I have the second-most KudoZ pts of all eligible members, but I appear 7th on the list of results.

Is this intentional (NOT a bug?), and if so, why?

Thank you for your help.
Best regards,
Mikhail Kropotov

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Jacques DPSwitzerland Local time: 09:02Member (2003) English to French

From a quick look

May 13, 2008

First, it's a wonderful technical achievement, and the automatic updating of results while criteria are changed is obviously a very good idea.

The only problem I saw is that the view is less compact than it was. In other words, you see less results on your screen, and more importance is therefore given to the first results (and consequently to KudoZ points as a sorting criterion).

Thanks for your efforts to make this site better and better.

Jacques

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First, it's a wonderful technical achievement, and the automatic updating of results while criteria are changed is obviously a very good idea.

The only problem I saw is that the view is less compact than it was. In other words, you see less results on your screen, and more importance is therefore given to the first results (and consequently to KudoZ points as a sorting criterion).

Thanks for your efforts to make this site better and better.

Jacques

Jacques,

On behalf of the team, thank you.

I understand your concerns; additional layout configuration and display improvements are scheduled for the near future.

Best regards,
Jon

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